balance

A Hair's Breadth In Burma there is a huge rock that balances on the edge of a cliff, kept from toppling, they say, by one hair plucked from Buddha's beard. Monks rise early to climb the steep, jagged path to view this miracle as the sun begins its day shining on the thin strand so delicately placed. I understand this pilgrimage, to witness life spared one more day. I saw a picture once in the newspaper of a car stalled at the foot of a steep embankment. A school bus had slid off the highway down the embankment and was kept from rolling, from killing the children, by the stalled car some driver had earlier cursed and kicked, stomping off through the snow, his day ruined. I cut out that picture, put it in a folder labeled "miracles," where I will put this one of the rock in Burma. And when my children complain about gathering for prayers before bed, I will take one out now and then to show them how precariously life is balanced.

A bachelor is a guy who leans toward women - but not far enough to lose his balance.

The sorrow of knowing that there is evil in the best is far outbalanced by the joy of discovering that there is good in the worst.

The qualities of an exceptional cook are akin to those of a successful tightrope walker: an abiding passion for the task, courage to go out on a limb and an impeccable sense of balance.

Balance is the perfect state of still water. Let that be our model. It remains quiet within and is not disturbed on the surface.

The national budget must be balanced. The public debt must be reduced; the arrogance of the authorities must be moderated and controlled. Payments to foreign governments must be reduced, if Rome doesn't want to become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.

I believe that for permanent survival, man must balance science with other qualities of life, qualities of body and spirit as well as those of mind - qualities he cannot develop when he lets mechanics and luxury insulate him too greatly from the earth to which he was born.

There are as many nights as days, and the one is just as long as the other in the year's course. Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word "happy" would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness. It is far better to take things as they come along with patience and equanimity.

It is very true that I have said that I considered Napoleon's presence in the field equal to forty thousand men in the balance. This is a very loose way of talking; but the idea is a very different one from that of his presence at a battle being equal to a reinforcement of forty thousand men.

If you are tired or pained in any part of the body and you have not over-exercised it, then you will know that some part of your thinking may not be balanced.